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H-Training’s interview panel training is a comprehensive programme for experienced and new interview board members alike. We have operated extensively across a range of businesses, from SME’s to big tech and a large corner of the Irish Public Sector and Civil Service. In addition to this, we witnessed first-hand the adoption of the Competency Based Framework in the Public Sector and have monitored how this process has evolved and mutated into what it has become today.
In doing so we have seen the same false starts, an initial lack of cohesion before the ultimate and successful adoption of the framework in the Public Sector and its increasing popularity in the Private Sector. As organisations seek to improve their success rate with the people they hire they establish frameworks and competencies for doing so and additionally train their people to perform.
Competency based interviews have changed how we recruit in Ireland in a relatively short period of time. A mere twenty-five to thirty-years ago we were only interested in people’s experience and little else. Additionally, Competency Based approaches to interviews continue to grow in popularity and have now become much more popular amongst our private sector clients.
H-Training has partnered with many world class organisations in honing aspects of their selection processes to acquire and retain the best people they can. We have extensive experience of supporting clients to identify, implement and manage the correct competencies and structures to ensure that their recruitment processes are the best they can be. Hiring the wrong people is expensive and finding the right ones is also difficult. By investing in this framework we can assist you to develop processes and procedures that will lead towards a much more robust hit rate and minimise the considerable costs of having to rehire and replace, all via our interview panel training.
From years of consulting across our range of disciplines, H-Training can attest to the centrality of the recruitment process in the success of any organisation. From our founder, Helen Hourican’s HRM consultancy, to developing high-level managers all the way to supporting clients identify and realise their strategic directions we have learned one central lesson: the people an organisation recruits are at the heart of its success. Poor decision in recruitment can lead to expensive over runs on important projects, difficult atmospheres developing that impact morale and further delays when it comes to hiring and onboarding new team members. All of this is not to mention the cost and time of visits to the Labour Court, should candidates perceive their treatment as unfair. This is a growing threat in the age of political correctness and as issues like the right to disconnect and burnout become increasingly topical.
Again and again, as we consult for organisations strategically, we see this problem emerge. We can coach people for 12 months straight and try to move the needle, however if there are fundamental value differences and or approaches that do not suit the organisations, it is often very difficult to undo a bad decision. One of the biggest areas of challenge is the “catch out question” and the candidate knowing the ‘right’ answer. This focuses on the test of knowledge and while the candidate who has the answers to these questions is impressive, they may not be the person your organisation needs in terms of planning, decision making or leading the team. There still appears to be this habit even among established interviewers that candidates display knowledge above all else.
While knowledge is important and questions need to be answered around current technical issues in a given discipline, knowledge is often just one area of competence. The inability to demonstrate in the other areas is the biggest challenge for recruiters today. The recruitment process is also not an exact science and the human element factors into how easily we can be influenced and nudged in directions that don’t realise the returns your organisation needs. Our interview panel training will give your team the tools to remain objective and challenge their biases in remaining objective throughout.
The interview is also fertile ground for conflict and can result in a legal fallout, even without hiring anyone. Interview boards walk their own fine line and the process is framed by a host of legal frameworks, such as the Employment Equality Act and Freedom of Information Acts as well as the ever ubiquitous GDPR. In essence, this means that your team needs to know the parameters within which they can operate. H-Training has seen some alarming instances whereby people simply do not understand this and recklessly comment and enquire about candidates’ personal lives during interviews. This is a major threat to any organisation, not to mention the candidate sitting these interviews. In an increasingly volatile world, it is remiss of any organisation not to take this very seriously and prepare their people to mitigate these risks at all costs.
H-Training delivers a blended learning approach to its interview panel training. As with all of our programmes we allow our participants to take some time and reflect on the material and then return with new questions and insights into the process. We deliver dynamic and engaging material that will inspire learners to think anew and recognise the competency-based process as an important and greatly impactful system for discovering what you are looking for. In addition to this we also provide training with more general interview approaches based upon your team’s defined criteria and all that this encapsulates.
In addition to interview panel training, H-Training also offer other corporate services like Corporate Group Interview Training, leaderships programmes and sales training. If you are in need of career services such as interview coaching, career coaching or an emotional intelligence assessment, contact Ciaran today here.
Get in touch today to find out more by booking in a Quick Check In Below to discuss your teams requirements.
